OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Curios and Stories BICYCLE MOWERS - c1895

Hello ODK history lovers
Every year or so, I see images of bicycles converted to
accommodate a side wheel mower. I don’t find them amusing
and, mostly, they reflect very poor backyard engineering.



The thing I love is that this penchant for silliness
has a long heritage!

This is a Monty Pythonesque story about how the
idea keeps re-inventing itself. That’s amusing to me.

The only design that makes sense to me is
images 6 in the Gallery below.

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART TWO – Heritage
The earliest reference to these bicycle lawnmowers seems
to date to about 1895 when one was exhibited at the New York
State Fair. That story was syndicated and appeared in various
Australian newspapers.

This was never presented as an 'invention' but as a 'novelty'.
Some folks, in these modern times, seem to have forgotten that.



In the gallery below I include a bicycle-sickle bar mower reported in 1903.
So, these things are not so novel anymore.